Adding properties to details pane in Windows 7 and Vista for my application file type

Question

I have a file type for my application for which i want to show some custom information in Details Pane(which appears at the bottom) in windows explorer in vista and win 7. Like Microsoft Word file type (.docx) has properties on Details Pane in vista and window 7 that show author property and e.t.c i have some custom information for my file which i want to show. I want it to be a c# .net 2.0 application that does it for me.

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

This is a tough one. You need to implement a property handler. A property handler is a COM object which knows how to extract properties from your files. I think it can use out-of-process activation so you may be able to use .NET 2.0, but be prepared for a lot of COM interop stuff. The All-in-one code framework has some examples of shell extension objects written in C++ and in C# for .NET 4, which should at least give you pointers. See also this question.

Answer 2

Information for what to display in each file type is in the registry under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SystemFileAssociations\

You could create a sub key at install time for your file type (by extension), and set the properties you want displayed.